Thursday, February 14, 2002

Introduction

The Iwill XP333-R motherboard was launched among a flurry of publicity, much of which was sparked by its reputation as the first mobo to support DDR333 memory. Until Iwill's announcement, not a single board could make that claim, and, as we'll demonstrate, even the XP333-R can't boast of full support - though that certainly doesn't detract from its many features. To make a long story short, it seems that the XP333-R's name may have been the result of an overly ambitious marketing team. That said, the XP333-R still has many things going for it, including an integrated RAID controller, and C-Media 8738 sound-card.

So, without further ado, let's take a closer look at Iwill's newest creation, and see what it has to offer.

Audio

The Iwill XP333-R's sound capabilities are provided by an integrated C-Media CMI8738 audio-chip. The CMI8738 supports 5.1 speaker-configurations, with 6 lines-out, including a central base-line.

From a sound standpoint, the C-Media¨ CMI8738 has very little to envy of other audio-chips. It supports up to 32 polyphonic voices, EAX effects, and supports both Microsoft DirectSound 3D, and Aureal A3D.

Unfortunately though, Iwill did not see fit to provide the RCA or optical jacks that would allow for the treatment of digital or SPDIF signals, though the C-Media chip is quite cable of handling these functions.

Configuration

The XP333-R can't boast a truly jumperless design. In fact, it includes a number of on-board jumpers that can or must be used to set certain features.

First, we have JP10, which can be used to set the Vio voltage to between 2.50v and 2.70v in steps of 0.1v

Next, there's JP31 which can be used to set the FSB to either 100MHz or 133MHz.

Astute users will also notice a jumble of miscellaneous jumpers of varying natures. JP1, for instance, can be used to reset the BIOS, JP32 can be used to activate/deactivate the RAID controller, and JP20 can be used to activate/deactivate the integrated sound-card - to name but a few of the more important ones.

As far as the BIOS is concerned, most important CPU-related adjustments can be made from within the "Iwill Smart Settings" menu.

Once their, users will be presented with a number of options. These include the ability to set the FSB frequency to between 100MHz and 233MHz in 1MHz increments, set the clock-multiplier to between 5X and 15X, and adjust the Vcore voltage to any setting indicated by the table above.

A PCI Clok divider setting permit the user to determine the appropriate ratio to the PCI and AGP bus from the CPU FSB. For instance this ratio can be set to Auto, CPU/3, CPU/4, CPU/5 and CPU/6. The AGP bus frequency is always twice the PCI bus frequency. Thus, if one sets its FSB to 166Mhz, then, using a CPU ratio of 5 will give a PCI bus frequency of 33.2Mhz and an AGP bus frequency of 66.4Mhz.

Finally, the "Advanced Chipset Features" menu includes a number of features for tweaking memory timing settings.

Comments on DDR333 support

At this time, it seems like a good idea to take a step back from our analysis, and explain what we meant when we said the XP333-R does not truly meet with DDR333 standards, though it is capable of using DDR333 memory.

In order to support the new memory standard, motherboards must be able to support independent memory-bus speeds of 166MHz. Our examination of the XP333-R revealed that its memory-bus frequency is locked to that of the FSB. Usually (at least these days) motherboards of this variety are gifted with independently clocked memory buses capable of operating at either 100MHz or 133MHz. To support DDR333, the memory-bus must not only be independent from the FSB, but also be able to operate at speeds of 166MHz. While the XP333-R's memory-bus is capable of operating at that speed, its synchronous nature requires that the FSB also operate at that frequency if users wish to take full advantage of DDR333 RAM's potential. As a result of this arrangement, a CPU must be installed that can operate on a 166MHz system bus, which currently means that - in practice - it must be modified to "unlock" its clock multiplier. For example, an AMD Athlon XP1900+ operates at 1.6GHz, via a clock multiplier setting of 12X, and an FSB setting of 133MHz. In order to work with a 166MHz FSB, the multiplier value would have to be reduced to 9.5X before implementing the higher FSB value. In most cases, making the change would entail modifying the processor.

And so, there you have it. By its nature, though the XP333-R can't claim full support for DDR333 memory, it can work with it, provided users don't mind making a few alterations to their processor.

Next: Technical details.